Taipei, May 7 (CNA) The European Union (EU) has asked Taiwan to restore a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, saying that the resumption of executions will affect Taiwan's image, the EU's top envoy to Taiwan said Friday.
"Taiwan is viewed by Europe as a place of democracy and respect for human rights. Of course, resumption of the death penalty and executions will affect this perception of Taiwan's high standards of human rights, " said Guy Ledoux, head of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO).
Taiwan drew outcry from human rights groups both at home and abroad after its execution of four death row inmates April 30, the first time since 2005 the death penalty had been carried out in the country, which has cited the abolition of capital punishment as a long-term goal.
The envoy said he met with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng Thursday and urged Taiwan to resume the de facto moratorium. His visit to Wang came days after statements issued by Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights, expressing regret and condemnation of the executions.
Ledoux declined to speculate on the possible effects of the executions on EU plans to extend visa-free privileges to Taiwanese visitors to the Schengen Area, which currently consists of 25 European countries, but he noted that the proposal, which Taiwan had hoped to be granted by the EU by the end of this year, "must be discussed by the ministers of the member states as well as by the European Parliament. And for this proposal to be adopted, the European Parliament needs to vote in favor of it." The government insists that the executions were carried out according to Taiwanese law and has also pointed out that in most public opinion polls, over 70 percent of the respondents have been against abolition.
Responding to the envoy's comment, Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang said Friday that while the abolition of the death penalty is an eventual goal, it will take a long time for Taiwan to forge a consensus on such a sensitive issue. He added that his ministry will do its best to explain this to EU member states.
Yang said there are no signs at the moment that the visa-free privileges will be negatively affected as a result of Taiwan's executions and he expressed hope that they will be separate issues, as Taiwan and the EU have always enjoyed "multi-layered" relations that include a wide range of cooperation and exchanges.
Ledoux said that he had made two requests to the Executive Yuan to meet with Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu, who replaced Wang Ching-feng after Wang refused to sign any execution orders and resigned over the snowballing controversy.
"Unfortunately, our call has not been heard, " he said. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J